


Seventeen Circus AU

by hnnhgyuhwa



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Choose Your Own Ending, Circus, Circus!AU, Friendship/Love, Horror, M/M, Protective Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups, Scary Games, Summer Vacation, Survival Horror, Thriller, hoshiwoozi, im just bad at this, more tags will be added, seventeen needs to survive, svtcircusau, there are bloods, woozi the smart boy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:47:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27710236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hnnhgyuhwa/pseuds/hnnhgyuhwa
Summary: based on the original au played in twitter, here comes the haunting once again to be opened the gate by the ringmasters. 13 boys met along with a history of their own, fear of the spoken history will be repeated. Hoping their summer reunion would ended up well, these boys definitely face something they could never imagine."Seungcheol, quit it. He's gone." Jisoo sighed on the phone. Seungcheol gripped his phone tighter."But, why does he appear again in the chat? Joshua, can you explain?" Jisoo fell to silence.The disappearance of a particular someone sets a new tale that no one among the 11 boys could ever talk about. Time went by so fast, they meet new people, they thought everything had left in the town for no one ever dared to speak of what happened in the past."Are you sure the carnival is alright for us to go?" Soonyoung stared right at Jihoon's eyes as he looked for answer. Jihoon's breath hitched."You know that hyung needs us. Everyone needs us."as the circus reopened, the horror thriller is now brought here for the fun to be played.Now, will you stay here too?
Relationships: SEVENTEEN Ensemble/SEVENTEEN Ensemble
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Prologue 1 - Seungcheol, Joshua, Jeonghan

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is ringmaster 1 from the @svtcircusau. I'm planning to release this here as I thought it would be fun to play more games and more riddles to be solved! Fret not, things might not be the same as the original story but you could say there's more fun things to be revealed. if you are from the original au, welcome and I bid you good luck for this journey again.
> 
> Never fear because the fun is here. After all, maybe you'll stay here!  
> when the lights were finally turned on, when the circus was ready to roll , we welcome you with our smiles, hoping you stay on the carousel on and on,
> 
> the shows were already started once, it could be relive again, underneath those hidden mysteries, could you solve it before it begin?

Choi Seungcheol, 25 :

Seungcheol was in his class listening to his professor teaching as he focused to him. Everyone was trying their hardest to keep their focus included Seungcheol but being a student is already hard enough. With all the due assignments and finals incoming, Seungcheol really needed a lot of sleep to make up for this summer.

"Why is even X bother to be minus with Y?" He whispered to himself, watching as the formulas written on the board turned to wormlike structures.  
He took a deep breath and try ( read : try) to keep his eyes on to the scribbles or formulas that his professor wrote. Park Jimin, next to him was already in the dreamland since the Professor stepped into the class, not that he ever stay awake in this class since the start of the semester. Seungcheol nearly gave up and just wanted to slam his head down but then, professor cut the class short due to some sudden notice for a meeting. Before he left, Mr Lee reminded them for the finals and then he rushed out of the class.

Nevertheless, Seungcheol really grateful for it. He quickly packed his bag and went back to his dorm as he finished his last class of the day. He kicked the chair that Jimin sat and earned a finger for it. Seungcheol laughed as he stormed outside quickly before the athlete kicked his ass. The university he went was just the same as the usual university life that everyone would ever dream of. The party, the alcohols and of course the fun of screwing over the tons of assignments that he could never finish. Back in his room, his roommate, Kim Taehyung was just jamming lazily with his guitar on the bed. Seungcheol waved at him before plopping on his bed, trying to sleep. Taehyung grinned knowing that Seungcheol would just sleep through the day again.

"Cheol, go and cleaned yourself first." Taehyung put his guitar aside and scrolled down through his phone.

"Am sleepy..." Seungcheol mumbled in his pillow.

Taehyung laughed hearing Seungcheol's answer. "Get up and have a bath then you go to sleep. Is Mr Lee's class is that bad today?" Seungcheol groaned as he got up from the bed, knowing well he needed to clean up from today's sweat and dirt. He ran up all the way from the class back to his room.

"You should see how Park straight away go to sleep as soon as he saw Mr Lee's face." Seungcheol rolled his eyes. Taehyung laughed, amused by his complaint. Jimin is his bestfriend, same goes to Seungcheol so this whining thing was really familiar to him.

"Well, finals definitely not that far and hell week would start again soon. Which reminds me, are you going back this summer?" Taehyung asked. Seungcheol sighed as the question loomed into the air.

Should he return this summer?

It's been months since he last returned and his mom kept telling him to come back home too. Ignoring the question, Seungcheol went to sleep and gave that question another time. Not until his phone went light up for a notification. He groaned and reached for his phone.

"This better be good or else I'll throw this phone away." He muttered as he scroll through the blaring notifications. Maybe it was their college guys who wants to have some stupid party before the finals. Not that Seungcheol was a party pooper. He just preferred to stay at his dorm, watching animes with Taehyung and Jimin rather than partying. When there's party, there's people. When there's people, that means danger and as a good boy he is, he just wanted some chill and relax time of himself. Seungcheol yawned slightly as he lazly scrolling until he saw this one inactive chat in the group. His blood froze seeing a very familiar name appear on the screen.

"What the hell?"

******************************************************************************************************************************

Hong Jisoo, 25

Jisoo was driving his car silently as he passed through the busy road. He was on his way to his favourite cafe after finishing his study group that evening. Call him nerdy, the prep group or whatsoever but his scholarship was on the line here. No slacking if he wanted to pursue the famous business school in New York. He turned up the air conditioner as the sun was blaring into the car. Summer's already saying hello to Seoul and what would Jisoo be dreading about the whole year? 

Yes, returning to his hometown.  
There's no way Jisoo would be coming back to the dread of hometown of his. Busan was great, yes everything was fine but Jisoo didn't really like much to stay there after years. Jeonghan wouldn't really appreciate knowing that Jisoo was kinda like avoiding his hometown either.  
Ah, Yoon Jeonghan. His pretty of a friend that always managed to sneak him into troubles. Always the one who lead the group for a pretty short and fun trip during boring classes that leads them to detentions. Jisoo would do it anyway because it’s Jeonghan. What he wants he gets. Jisoo smirked at the memory. Partly was Jeonghan's fault so Jisoo wouldn't mind. He turned on the radio as he hummed along the tune."Today's been a great day to all our listeners! We hope you enjoy your day today as we are expecting a sunny one here in Seoul-" 

The day was perfect, just like how he enjoyed it until a call from a certain someone made through his phone. Jisoo frowned over the unknown number that appeared on his screen. For a second, Jisoo stared at it, reluctant to pick it up. The call stopped as Jisoo was just about to pick it up. “Whatever. It could be anyone.” Jisoo ignored his phone and focused on his driving. Not until the phone ring again as if challenging him. 

Decided to ignoring it, Jisoo silent his phone and proceed on driving his car as his destination approaching him. He parked the car swiftly and hurrying up to grab all his stuff from the passenger's seat. The coffee was too good to be missed. 

The familiar ringtone blaring again from his pants, leaving him in confusion. He sighed as he gave a thought. Before the ringtone ends, Jisoo answered the call. “This better be good.” 

"Hello?" Jisoo locked his car and started to walk towards the cafe at the end of the block while holding the phone.

"Jisoo? I mean, Shua?"

Jisoo stopped his track as the caller mentioned his name. He took a look again at the caller ID. "Who is this?" "Joshua, it's me. Seungcheol." And there Jisoo could feel, his heart stopped beating. ****************************************************************************************************************************** 

Yoon Jeonghan, 25

He was walking along the park as he held his phone tightly in his hand. His eyes trailed along the children who were playing hide and seek. A girl was counting from 1 to 10 and the rest was running and hiding. Jeonghan chose to sit at the nearest bench as he still interested in the kids playing.

Childhood was a great memory that he chose not to indulge himself much. He despised it much as how you hated got the worst candy during trick or treat or when you realised you had stepped more than you could handle. He sighed as he looked to the sky. It was a clear and sunny day. Jeonghan hated whatever the feelings inside. He gripped the phone tightly as in cursing the true existence of it. 

He missed his hometown but it’s been 2 years since he disappeared. Disappeared without a trace. Nothing,nada. He was not welcomed there anymore. Not since whatever had happened. Jeonghan closed his eyes trying to relive back everything that was close to what he could remember in his highschool days.

Friends.  
He had friends. Friends that technically were his roots. The one that trusted him whole.

He wasn’t hiding yet he wasn’t running either. He just simply didn’t make a choice. 

He opened his phone and hit the send button. As he laid back and watched the kids playing again, he could hear somewhere the sounds of organ playing in the back of his mind, greeting him like an old friend.


	2. Prologue 2 : Jihoon, Soonyoung

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two guests are here. Rejoice for the tiger and the main genius, looking from left to right, for alas they have found the light.
> 
> The story is starting now i'm sure, lo and behold, for every eyes there's a story to be told.
> 
> -ringmaster 1

Lee Jihoon, 24

Musics accompanied Jihoon that evening as he leisurely typing his last assignment due that day. Not that he was rushing for it like the rest of his class, he already finished most of it beforehand and he hated when things go spiral if he handed it late. He just finished it early so that he could be relaxed. Sipping his coke (his sugar guilty pleasure), he stretched his arms a bit. The orange skies were clearly giving hints to Jihoon that he was late for dinner. His stomach already grumbled, announcing that Jihoon needs food in his system but he ignored it because work comes first. 

"Whatever, I'll finish it a bit more" Jihoon patted his stomach and continued. 

At 5.59 pm, Jihoon submitted his final assignments with a slight grin. 

"Now that was a hard work" He got up and closed his laptop. His eyes were begging for some sleep as he spent almost the last 24 hours cracking the assignment. He grabbed his phone and plopped on the bed. He was scrolling the phone for some pizza but remembered of his older brother, Yoongi who already warned him to have some healthy food and not just some fast food things.   
Jihoon groaned and proceed to buy some chinese takeouts. Hey, at least it's carbs. He love his pizzas but he just wanted to survive Yoongi's never ended naggings. 

He decided to just relax on his bed and scrolling his social media. He rarely used it anyway. It was Soonyoung who kept pestering it to have his own insta things or whatever in highschool. Not to mention Seungcheol saying he's an old guy trapped in a young boy. 

Seungcheol. Jihoon smiled. 

An image of Seungcheol flashed in his mind.   
His highschool friends, his querencia. It's been years since he heard from them. Well perhaps, Soonyoung did send him some updates here and there but Soonyoung was busy as well. Jihoon didn't mind. He wasn't really the type to keep updated but he knows them well. The 11 of them or it may be 10 now. 

Jihoon didn't blame him or whatever had happened among them. Jeonghan had it rough. He was feeling wary at the older as the word of the town keep spreading. The older changed and disappeared ever since graduation day. He didn't even stay for them.   
Jihoon himself couldn't find the courage to even comfort Jeonghan. 

The tiredness from his assignments caught up on him as he yawned. Maybe he could catch up some sleep before the delivery comes. He was about to close his phone when a call entered from an unknown number. He frowned as he tried to figure who was the caller. He picked it up right away. 

"Hello?"

Jihoon went silent. He knew that voice. 

"Hyung?" 

**************************************************  
Kwon Soonyoung, 24

Soonyoung stood in the middle of the dance studio, sweating heavily from his dance routine. He was perfecting it since his finals are coming which means his showcase is getting closer too. He always felt like his flip is miscounted, he hunched too munch and he missed his beat. He just felt like something was not completed.

He groaned loudly as he slammed his cap to the side. 

"You know, that really sounds like you are dumping shit." Soonyoung spun so fast, surprised by the voice.

"What the heck Jun. You scared me."

Wen Junhui, his roommate, his friend and also the same dance major as him. Junhui cackled loudly looking at Soonyoung's pale face. 

"Dude, your face is awesome. It's like how those girls were acting surprised in crappy horror movies" Soonyoung took no offense in Jun. Jun is the pranksters of the school. Once, Jun gave him a coffee for free and it ended being the best detergent mixed coffee ever. That's the cue saying of how they became the best of friends. 

Soonyoung grumbled at the sudden appearance of Junhui as he grabbed his cap.  
"So finals are here huh?" Junhui turned serious as he warmed up to practice for his dance. He was getting the vibes of hip hop for his theme and he was a great dancer next to Soonyoung. 

Soonyoung nodded as he wiped his sweats all over his face.   
"You're returning back to China?" 

Jun was born in Korea but currently his family was back in China for some business. Jun didn't want to waste his time. He better be in Seoul to prank more people. 

"Nah, i'm staying. You know it's more fun to be the ghost of the dormitory" Junhui wailed like the ghost in Ju On. 

"Do you want to return to my hometown this summer?" Junhui stopped and looked at Soonyoung.

"Is your family okay with me going? I mean-" 

Soonyoung laughed. "My family is fine with it. Plus, my mother will feed you more than me seeing how skinny you are." 

Jun jumped around. "Sweet!" 

Soonyoung could only feel his throat getting dry. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad right?   
10 years passed already, surely they wouldn't mind.


	3. Chapter 1 : the eyes that opened again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol and Jisoo made the talk.  
> everyone is excited.  
> Should Seungcheol go back home?

It was raining at that night. He could hear the whisperings of rain tapping on his window as he tried to focus on his homework using that small light of study lamp on his table. The wind was roaring a little too loud for his liking. Sound of people crying started to glitch in his mind. He closed his eyes and sighed. The night was not on his favour. He wasn’t scared of the thunderstorm but he was feeling like there’s something not right. 

_You could feel it don’t you?_

He took a deep breath and carefully looked around his room. The room was pitched dark as it was already midnight and his homework would not wait for him. He glanced again at his window who was splashed with the hundreds of rain droplets, making a music of their own. Sounds a bit eerie for a 25 year old boy. He sighed again trying to remove every bits of these weird sensation creeping up inside of him. 

“There’s nothing going on, Jisoo. Just calm down.” He wiped his face and continue his focus on his work. Jisoo knew there was nothing in his room but all those dreams keep haunting him even if it’s daylight. It seems stupid he knows but the amount of fear that stitched onto him was so immensed. The rapid heartbeat when he opened his eyes, the gasps that left him grateful that he was still alive, it was terrible. It was good enough he didn’t remember all of it. He did keep the one He hoped tonight was not the night of the demons haunting him. He needs his sleep. 

_It’s eating you alive._

He put his pen down. He couldn’t keep his focus anymore. He rose from his chair and went outside of his room. The living room of his 2 room apartment near his campus was good enough for him. Ren, his roommate probably fell asleep already. He too was a business major like Joshua and definitely one of his so call posh team around the campus. JR was the one to complete the trio. Jisoo smiled at the thoughts of his life. He was happy with him being Joshua here not as Jisoo. _Jisoo,_ was a fragment of his childhood, the memory of him being youthful once and not breathing in fright. Jisoo watched his reflection by the balcony door as he stood in silence. His mind went harsh as he remembered his conversation with Seungcheol that evening.

_Back at the cafe,_

_“Hello?” Jisoo held his breath._

_“Yeah it’s me, Seungcheol. Remember me?” Of course, how could he forget him. He would never, sworn by his blood and tears._

_“Jisoo?” Jisoo was snapped out of his thoughts again._

_“Are you busy or something? Sorry if I suddenly disturb you or anything-”_

_His voice sounded breathless._

_“No, no. You’re not. Cheol, calm down.” Liar, Hong Jisoo, you knew he was distraught by something._

_He could hear Seungcheol took a deep breath and sort of whispering something back._

_“Jisoo, have you seen the group chat?”_

_Jisoo shook his head slowly._

_“No, I haven’t seen them. What’s wrong?” Seungcheol let a slight chuckle. It was not a humour one._

_“He’s back. Jeonghan’s back.” As Seungcheol mentioned the name, the whole spine of Jisoo’s suddenly froze. Like it was a death call for him._

_“You’re joking. Seungcheol, it’s not funny.” Jisoo’s voice grew cold._

_“Why the hell am I joking about this Jisoo? See it for yourself.” Seungcheol hissed over the phone._

_“Fine.” Jisoo mumbled as he opened the archive chat options. He scrolled until his eyes grew wide at the long inactive chat group._

**_Jeonghan sent a message :_ ** _im back in town ^^ lets meet up this summer. Shall we? I miss you guys <3 _

_It was really him, Jeonghan. Jisoo would recognise him in a heartbeat. That same love signature. Jisoo could feel his throat becoming dry. He put his phone back to Seungcheol._

_“Yeah you’re right.” He knew Seungcheol was nervous for a reason but he doubted his was not the same as his. At least, Seungcheol was never in fear._

_“I’m sorry I’ve been not contacting you for so long ever since high school and this came up.” Seungcheol was being honest._

_“Cheol, it’s alright. I was being a shitty friend too. At least to everyone.”_

_Seungcheol went back to silent._

_“Is he being genuine on meeting us again?” Seungcheol was never one to doubt his friends especially to Jeonghan and Jisoo. Jisoo was a bit pissed._

_“Seungcheol, quit it. He’s gone before and he’s back. Shouldn’t you be happy?”_

_Liar again. Why should they be happy?_

_“Then tell me Jisoo, why does he appear again?”_

_And Jisoo couldn’t answer it._

  
  


A thunder brought back Joshua to reality. Flashes of light appeared as he saw his own reflection from the balcony door looking back at him. Jisoo sat down as he kept looking at the reflection as if it was an alive entity.

_He was coming back and there’s nothing you could have done to stop him._

Jisoo screamed as he closed his ears to block his own thoughts again.

  
  
  
  


*********************************************************

Despite everything had occurred, the finals have been kept on going and as what they said, time waits for no one. Seungcheol managed to squeeze through the hell week with his friends, Jimin and Taehyung, cramming every bit of information that they could gather. The trio were lucky that Taehyung’s older brother, Seokjin were a great help sending food all through the hell week. Hell week was basically that one study week that was used by students to pick up everything before the finals and Seungcheol hated it to the guts. By the time finals ended, Seungcheol felt like kneeling to the ground and cried in victory. The bell rang throughout the halls marking the end of the finals. Jimin who sat not too far from him was already wiggling his eyebrows signalling some party at their place tonight. Seungcheol grinned as they high fived up on the air earning a glare from the teacher. 

“Congrats on finishing your finals. Go ahead and ruin your day.” The students cheered and quickly got out of the halls. Jimin and Seungcheol were already excited, planning what anime to watch this time and definitely asking Seokjin to join and bring some food along. They were excitedly chattering when they entered the door and yelling excitedly together of finishing the finals. That night, when everyone was asleep, Seungcheol went outside for a while to take a fresh air until he remembered of the group chat. He stared a good 5 minutes to his phone until he opened the last message by Jisoo.

**Hong the Smart boy :** Let’s just see if he’s really want to see us. He’s still our friend. Trust him. I’ll see you around this summer. 

Seungcheol then opened the group chat.

**Seokmin** : Hyung! Are you back from your trip? Sweeettttt!

 **Chan the Dino** : Yeah let’s meet up this summer! I heard Shua hyung and Cheol hyung is graduating already.

 **Mingyu** : Yes let’s meet up :D

 **Wonwoo** : cool. Me too. \

 **Seungkwan the loud** : COOL HYUNG WE NEED TO MEET SOON I IS MISSING YOU <333333

 **Hansol american boi** : it’s I am, not I is but welcome back hyung

 **Seungkwan the loud** : shut up hansol i know you love me 

Seungcheol smiled softly as everyone was excited to meet each other that summer. Maybe it was really a good thing that Jeonghan came back. Seungcheol went to the vending machine as he put the phone back into his pocket. It was a silent night as everyone went out for a party and usually some of the guys like his friends and him were the ones stuck at the dorm not going out. He pushed a button and a coke fell down from the dispenser. He took it and sat at a nearby bench. 

_Should I go back this summer?_

Somewhere along, he knew it was just a rumour circulating by some stupid people in the village just because they were having fun of Jeonghan’s bad tragedy. Seungcheol sighed again. 

  
  


He pulled his phone out and hesitantly typing in into the group chat.

**Seungcheol big hyung** : yeah. I’ll be back this summer. See you guys. :)

And he wondered, why is that heavy feelings still stuck in him as he entered back the dorm.

  
  
  



End file.
